There were now only three days to elapse until the following Sabbath, on which day the child was to be baptized; one of them, that is, the one following his first intoxication with Frank, was lost to him, for, as we have said, though not precisely drunk, he was not in a condition to work, nor properly to give directions.  The next he felt himself in much the same state, but with still less of regret.

“The truth is,” said he, “I won’t be rightly able to do any thing till afther this christenin’, so that I may set down the remaindher o’ the week as lost; well, sure that won’t break me at any rate.  It’s long since I lost a week before, and we must only make up for it; afther the christenin’ I’ll work double tides.”

This was all very plausible reasoning, but very fallacious notwithstanding; indeed, it is this description of logic which conceals the full extent of a man’s errors from, himself, and which has sent thousands forward on their career to ruin.  Had Art, for instance, been guided by his steady and excellent brother, or, what would have been better still, by his own good sense and firmness, he would have got up the next morning in health, with an easy mind, and a clear conscience, and been able to resume his work as usual.  Instead of that, the night’s debauch produced its natural consequences, feverishness and indisposition, which, by the aid of a bad proverb, and worse company, were removed by the very cause which produced them.  The second night’s debauch lost the following day, and then, forsooth, the week was nearly gone, and it wasn’t worth while to change the system, as if it was ever too soon to mend, or as if even a single day’s work were not a matter of importance to a mechanic.  Let any man who feels himself reasoning as Art Maguire did, rest assured that there is an evil principle within him, which, unless he strangle it by prompt firmness, and a strong conviction of moral duty, will ultimately be his destruction.

There was once a lake, surrounded by very beautiful scenery, to which its waters gave a fine and picturesque effect.  This lake was situated on an elevated part of the country, and a little below it, facing the west, was a precipice, which terminated a lovely valley, that gradually expanded until it was lost in the rich campaign country below.  From this lake there was no outlet of water whatsoever, but its shores at the same time were rich and green, having been all along devoted to pasture.  Now, it so happened that a boy, whose daily occupation was to tend his master’s sheep, went one day when the winds were strong, to the edge of the lake, on the side to which they blew, and began to amuse himself by making a small channel in the soft earth with his naked foot.  This small identation was gradually made larger and larger by the waters—­whenever the wind blew strongly in that direction—­until, in the course of time, it changed into a deep chasm, which wore away the earth that intervened between